Forum Discussion

stinino's avatar
stinino
Tuning in
28 days ago

Feeling let down by virgin media

I'm writing this form post to ask if there are any forum moderators who can help regarding a resident incident I've had with virgin media.

For the past 6 months, I've been in and out of hospital but mostly an inpatient. I've struggled to keep up to date which admittedly, is my own fault. But due to health complications things like bills ended up falling to the bottom of my priority list after I became bed bound several times.

I got in contact with Virgin Media on the 11th of December, and worked out a deal in regards to my situation where I would pay a certain amount contributing to my ongoing usage (with a downgrade in speed) and the rest would go towards my debt that had unfouurnatley mounted up during my health crisis's. After happily accepting this amount, I proceeded to pay a initial fee of £55, and agreed monthly going forward that I would pay £58 on the 22nd of each month.

Virgin are now arguing that I was also actually due to pay the £58 on the 22nd of December, as well as the initial £55 I had paid on the 11th of December. As someone with autism and difficulties with communication, it was made clear to me that the £58 payments would start the month after my initial payment, which was for £55 on the 11th of December.

I am now getting texts threatening the virgin are going to suspend my services. They say that the call outlined it would start in December, not January. As someone who also suffers from Functional Neurological Disorder, this could have been a simple mistake of communicating the months in which I believed the direct debit payments would start from.

I phoned virgin media, only to be met with hostility about "missing" the initial payment on the 22nd of January. I have explained to the numerous times, very upset, that £55 was the most I could afford during January, but I would be happy as agreed to proceed with the £58 payments moving forward monthly starting from the 22nd.

After speaking to several managers, they were all telling me to expect to be disconnected. In anger, I said I will happily  chargeback the initial £55 I gave as it seems unfair that it wasn't made clear to me that the payments would start in January, given that I had already paid £55 on the 11th of Decemeber and that was a struggle considering my finances.  They said they don't play games, and if I was to do that they would close my account for fraud.

I don't really know where to go from here, as I will need to take it up with the ombudsman service, but soon I will be disconnected from my broadband services and I'm mostly left bed ridden so I will find it hard to come to some resolution of restoring my internet access.

I really need some advise, or possibly help from virgin media in resolving what should and could have been a simple misunderstanding. If anyone can advise, please do so as VM have left me feeling worried about not being able to communicate with anyone even after attempting to follow the agreements made by them.

I have made a complaint, but the outcome has been said that on the phone supposedly the rep said payments would start from the 22nd of January, which I wouldn't have agreed to as I could only just manage £58 a month going forward in January, after my initial payment of £55 in December.

Also to note, they were suppose to send out a clear billing email detailing when the payments where expected to be made and for how much on the date I made the initial payment, but it never arrived in my inbox.

  • I sense this just needs one VM rep to take ownership. Don't make any more calls for now and wait to see what the VM forum team candy do for you. 

  • Hi stinino 

    Welcome to the Community Forums.

    So sorry to hear that you've been unwell. I appreciate that this issue has caused extra stress for you, so we'd like to see if there is anything we can do further. 

    I must advise, as this is a dispute with a promise to pay process, we're very limited to what we're able to do through the Community Forums, as such matters can only be addressed and handled by the Collection team, but we'd be more than happy to look at this on our side and see what can advise. 

     

    Please join me on private message so I can locate your account and pass account security. You can see your private messages at the top of the page, in the envelope icon or if you're using a smaller device, you can see your private messages by clicking on the Virgin Media logo at the top right and select 'Messages' from the drop down. 

     

    • stinino's avatar
      stinino
      Tuning in

      Hi @Carley_S

      Thank you for your offer to help, even if your ability are limited. I just want to get my account back to good standing, and continue my payments on the 22nd of this month and the same going forward as I thought was originally agreed.

      Many thanks

  • Hi @Carley_S

    I reached out to you by DM's as I tried contacting virgin media again today to pay not only the agreed amount for this month, but some contributing towards what I was manipulated into paying last month and this still wasn't good enough for them and I was being threatened with further restrictions. This doesn't look good for a company this size like Virgin Media and I would expect better when someone is trying to come to a mutual financial agreement after being deceived by the collections team, and they have left me vulnerable without having services activated.

    I feel very let down after not only offering to clear this months bill after you've had my services suspended for a week, but some of the additional second payment you wanted out of me for last month. I think it's really unfair that you treat customers this way when they are trying their best to come to a agreement with you.

    I hope we can come to some agreement as like I've stated, I've offered to pay extra where I can even though I shouldn't have to, and if not I will have to just move internet providers.